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Beginning September 21, 2024, the Emmett Till Interpretive Center will be reopened to the public.​
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RACIAL RECONCILIATION BEGINS BY TELLING THE TRUTH
About Us
Our Mission
The Emmett Till Interpretive Center promotes restorative justice through public education, storytelling, and historic preservation, focusing on the 1955 Emmett Till tragedy to foster community healing and understanding to create a more equitable future.
Watch this video to hear directly from Jerome Little in 2007, when he and the Emmett Till Memorial Commission offered a formal apology on behalf of Tallahatchie County.
Our History
The Emmett Till Interpretive Center was the vision of the late Jerome G. Little, the first African-American President of the Tallahatchie County Board of Supervisors. In 2006, Little organized the Emmett Till Memorial Commission -- a multiracial group of citizens -- with the intention to break the silence and take responsibility for the role that Tallahatchie County played in the injustice that occurred in 1955. Today, the commission is now the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, and Little's vision of promoting racial healing and reconciliation lives on in our work.
Today, we achieve our mission via four pillars of work:
The interpretive center serves as a historical museum, located just across from the Emmett Till courthouse. Click to learn more and book a tour!
The interpretive center serves as a historical museum, located just across from the Emmett Till courthouse. Click to learn more and book a tour!
The interpretive center serves as a historical museum, located just across from the Emmett Till courthouse. Click to learn more and book a tour!
Public Education
We engage in work to help spread education and awareness of Emmett Till and his legacy to young people and adults alike.
Significance of Our Location
The Emmett Till Interpretive Center is located in Sumner, MS, just across the street from the Tallahatchie County courthouse. This courthouse was the location of the 1955 Emmett Till Trial, where his murderers were acquitted by an all-white male jury. Today, as a part of our museum interpretation and historic preservation pillars of work, our center offers tours of the historical courthouse and surrounding areas that played a significant role in the story of Emmett Till.
Watch to learn more about the center's ongoing fight to maintain and preserve the historical sites and legacy of Emmett Till.